‘God used furlough to reignite my dream’

When Covid-19 shattered the aviation industry, easyJet engineer Mark Draper was put on furlough. It was the start of a journey that would lead his family halfway across the globe 

A love of aviation and Jesus are in Mark Draper’s blood. The story goes back to 1956, when Mark’s grandfather, Leslie, helped assemble the first Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF) Cessna aircraft. Leslie was a British Airways engineer and MAF was a fledgling aid organisation, set up in the aftermath of the second world war to fly aid to isolated communities inaccessible by other means. 

The Cessna 180 Skywagon had arrived from America at Heathrow Airport in a crate. Leslie and a team of volunteers from BA’s Christian Union were charged with reassembling it, before Betty Green, one of the few female aviators of her time, flew the aircraft to Sudan.